124 Voyage of the Novara. 



buses of all colours and dimensions, and crammed within and 

 without, dash swiftly about, emulating the din and confusion of 

 European capitals. Turning now to the right, into the Eua 

 Direita, and thence a little further into the Rua do Ouvidor, 

 the two most elegant but none the less most-neglected streets 

 of Eio, there dazzles the eye, in the splendid, richly -decorated 

 shops and arcades, the same profuse luxury as in Regent 

 Street, or on the Boulevards. But how disagreeable the con- 

 trast with those cities, presented by the pools of stagnant 

 water, which occur even in the most-frequented streets ! 



The city proper presents the figure of a square of about one 

 mile and three quarters each way, between the sea beach and 

 the Campo da Santa Anna, and is divided with tolerable regu- 

 larity by narrow streets built at right angles to each other. 

 Except the most important public buildings, such as the 

 National Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Military 

 Academy, the Naval Arsenal, the Custom House, the Market 

 Hall, the Imperial Palace, the Chamber of Deputies, and 

 several of the churches, only shops and mercantile count- 

 ing-houses are to be met with. 



From the city stretch the suburbs like long tentacles in 

 every direction, on one side along the beach as far as St. Chris- 

 toph, the winter palace of the emperor, and, in the opposite 

 direction, as far as the charming Cove of Botafogo, while back- 

 wards they extend to the valleys leading to the Corcovado, to 

 the suburbs of Larangeiras, Catumby Grande, and in the 

 direction of the Tejuca mountains, as far as Engenho Velho, 



